Sri Lanka - Day 1
Travel days are always bizarre, you begin your day as one person and end it as another. It's a bit like having a baby. Combine the two and by the end of the day you barely recognize yourself. The trip from Amsterdam to Sri Lanka went relatively smoothly despite David and I both having had a pretty bad dose of stomach flu just 10 hours before we left. The irony of having contracted a vomiting bug before we even left for our holiday is not lost on me. In fact getting a good dose of Amsterdam Belly just thinking about going on holiday, some might say, is classic Emma. Total Platypus behavior.
But we made it here - through tummy bugs, 2 sleepless nights and explosive mid-flight nappy changes (note to new parents, 2 changes of clothes are not enough, especially if you're going to tip a bottle of water down your kid's chest mid-flight right after you've changed him). Another characteristic of Platypus behavior is to worry so keenly about how bad things are going to be away from your natural habitat that actually arriving there is a bit of a relief. It also helps that Sri Lanka is HEAVEN ON EARTH. I'm talking soft tropical winds, gently sloping hillsides of tea, cinnamon and rubber plantations, birds a-screeching, iguanas a-creeping and monkeys leaping around in tree tops like they're off to a casting for The Jungle Book. But the most beautiful thing so far is the local people. Kindness and gentleness seems to beam right out of them. Even before they've had a chance to say hello they've clapped their hands softly and taken Cal into their arms for a cuddle.
We're staying at the Nor Lanka hotel in Unawatuna, I found it on Trip Advisor as the #1 budget hotel for families and it's just perfect. It's an old Colonial style mansion, with a pretty garden and great white stone verandahs that wrap around the floors. It is also spotless - yesterday I saw one of the ladies walking around just cleaning the light switches. The English couple in the next room say they've been coming here for 6 years and have never been sick, which is a comfort, but hey, I get sick in Amsterdam, but then again I don't clean our light switches.. Anyway, our room is a good size with a great bed and a beautiful teak cot for Cal. There's a lounge area on the verandah just next to our room where I'm writing this and from it I can listen for Cal as I watch monkeys thumping through the palms. We went to the beach yesterday for Cal's first ocean swim (which he was not adverse to) but this hotel is so peaceful that I can imagine we'll spend quite a bit of time here hanging out with books, beers and blogging.
But we made it here - through tummy bugs, 2 sleepless nights and explosive mid-flight nappy changes (note to new parents, 2 changes of clothes are not enough, especially if you're going to tip a bottle of water down your kid's chest mid-flight right after you've changed him). Another characteristic of Platypus behavior is to worry so keenly about how bad things are going to be away from your natural habitat that actually arriving there is a bit of a relief. It also helps that Sri Lanka is HEAVEN ON EARTH. I'm talking soft tropical winds, gently sloping hillsides of tea, cinnamon and rubber plantations, birds a-screeching, iguanas a-creeping and monkeys leaping around in tree tops like they're off to a casting for The Jungle Book. But the most beautiful thing so far is the local people. Kindness and gentleness seems to beam right out of them. Even before they've had a chance to say hello they've clapped their hands softly and taken Cal into their arms for a cuddle.
We're staying at the Nor Lanka hotel in Unawatuna, I found it on Trip Advisor as the #1 budget hotel for families and it's just perfect. It's an old Colonial style mansion, with a pretty garden and great white stone verandahs that wrap around the floors. It is also spotless - yesterday I saw one of the ladies walking around just cleaning the light switches. The English couple in the next room say they've been coming here for 6 years and have never been sick, which is a comfort, but hey, I get sick in Amsterdam, but then again I don't clean our light switches.. Anyway, our room is a good size with a great bed and a beautiful teak cot for Cal. There's a lounge area on the verandah just next to our room where I'm writing this and from it I can listen for Cal as I watch monkeys thumping through the palms. We went to the beach yesterday for Cal's first ocean swim (which he was not adverse to) but this hotel is so peaceful that I can imagine we'll spend quite a bit of time here hanging out with books, beers and blogging.
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| Plane spotting at Schiphol |
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| We had to tell a little white lie about somebody's weight to score the bassinet |
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| Stoked with his Dubai stop-over |
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| The 3 hour drive from Colombo to Unawatuna - we all slept most of the way |
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| Our room at Nor Lanka hotel, Unawatuna |
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| Cal's crib at Nor Lanka hotel |
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| First beer of the holiday |
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| First sighting of the ocean |
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| Thalassa! Thalassa! |
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| Nor Lanka Hotel |
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| Freshly showered baby (may have drunk shower water..) |
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| Pingu before bed |
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| First fresh Pineapple juice on Day 2 - he downed the whole glass in one go! |
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